Amid the screeching and howling on talk radio the other day came a familiar lament.

Irate Caller opined that these United States would be better off if we'd get rid of all these service-sector jobs and bring back manufacturing work. IC wondered why we - whoever that might be - allowed shoe-making jobs and jeans-making jobs and whatever-making jobs to leave these shores for others in far-off lands.

We've heard the complaint before, and it has a certain ring to it. Who wouldn't prefer to exchange $7-an-hour mostly part-time service jobs for $10-an-hour manufacturing jobs with full benefits?

But there is a catch. Isn't there always a catch?

Show of hands here:

Who wants to pay twice the going rate for a pair of shoes?

Who is willing to pay double for a pair of jeans?

Who will stand in line to shell out more money for just about all sorts of products that we purchase every day of the year?

We don't see many hands in the air. Admittedly, we can't seem to get our arms above shoulder level.

Americans are tightwads. We don't like to pay more than we have to for our shoes, our jeans, our food.

And don't you know that we know how to consume? The entire world fuels our insatiable appetite for trinkets, time-savers, junk. If you don't believe that, look no further than the nearest infomercial for The Clapper or the next generation of Miracle Knife or some twirling electric hairbrush that magically makes your hair look like hers, guaranteed (with restrictions, of course).

But someone somewhere has to make these goods. "Made in America" might mean top-quality. It also means "top price." U.S. workers demand wages unheard of in other parts of the world. The cost of doing business in general is exponentially more here than elsewhere. Those production costs slide right to the price tag.

So, Irate Caller and anyone else who wants manufacturing jobs must answer affirmatively to this question: Am I willing to pay much more for these products?